Riding the Raisina Tiger

Riding the Raisina Tiger - a Politico-military thriller about an Army Chief who decided to take things into his own hands. AVAILABLE FOR FREE DOWNLOAD ON 26 JAN ON OCCASION OF REPUBLIC DAY FROM https://www.amazon.com/Riding-Raisina-Tiger-Story-military-ebook/dp/B01ALCCNSS

COLOMBO:
Apparently in view of the strategic importance of Sri Lanka in the context of
the increasing influence of China on it, and the existence of strong ties with
Pakistan, India has beefed up the Defence Ministry’s representation at the
Indian High Commission here.

Col Gurinder S Klaire
has been appointed as Deputy Defence Advisor to assist Defence Advisor Capt
Prakash Gopalan. With this, for the first time, there is an army man in the
Defence wing of the mission. Traditionally, Defence Advisors in the Colombo
mission have been only from the navy.

Sri Lanka has
lately seen high profile military leaders from China, Pakistan and India
visiting it. In May this year came General Xu Qiliang, Vice Chairman of the
Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and the commander
of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force from 2007 to 2012.

Also in May, came
the Chief of Staff of the Chinese People’s Armed Police, Lt Gen Niu Zhizong.
Gen Niu requested the Lankan Army Commander Lt Gen Daya Ratnayake to send the
“maximum number” of officers to China for training in anti-terrorism.

The visit of high
level delegations from China coincided with the discovery that Lanka had
entered into a contract with a Chinese government company to build an aircraft
repair and maintenance facility at Trincomalee for its air force. This led to
concern in New Delhi as it impinged on the 1987 India-Sri Lanka Accord
regarding the military use of Trincomalee.

Indian External
Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had enquired about it from her Lankan counterpart,
GL Peiris, when the latter met her in New Delhi recently. Subsequently, Peiris
told the parliament that the location of the facility had not been decided. In
April, Pakistan’s Chairman Joint Chief of Staff Committee, General Rashad
Mahmood, visited Lanka.

There were visits
from India too. In December 2012, the then Army Chief, Gen Bikram Singh, was in
Lanka. In July this year came the Air Force Chief, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha.
ACM Raha and Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa discussed the possibility of
holding joint air exercises. It is learnt that India’s National Security
Advisor, Ajit Kumar Doval, will be participating in the Lankan Defence
Ministry’s prestigious ‘Galle Maritime Dialogue’ in November.

The wife of a
Major in the Indian Army, posted in an artillery unit in Faridkot, has shot off
a complaint to the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the South Western
Command alleging that she and her husband were threatened, harassed and
humiliated by the Brigade Commander when she refused to attend rehearsals for a
fashion show. The show was being prepared by the women of the station in
anticipation of the visit of a senior officer’s wife. Vidhya Anappa Karajagi’s
missive is now the most shared document on social media within Army circles and
posts appreciating her courage to stand up to intimidation by her husband’s
senior are flying thick and fast.

Widespread resentment

That the men in
olive green are applauding Ms. Karajagi more is indicative of the widespread
resentment generated by official and unofficial activities of the Army Wives
Welfare Association (AWWA) in recent times. In March 2009, a ruling of the Central
Information Commission (CIC) specified that AWWA is a non-governmental
organisation (NGO) which assists in the welfare of Army families but is not a
part of the Indian Army. Subsequently, its central office was shifted out of
the Army Headquarters in South Block and now operates out of an AWWA hostel in
Delhi. Following the CIC order, AWWA activities, which were well-defined till
the battalion level, are now restricted to the Corps level or area headquarters
commanded by a Lieutenant General. No serving officer will be a member of AWWA
and where an officer is required to assist in its functioning, it will be
purely on a voluntary basis.

In practice, AWWA
is very much a part of the system, perhaps even more so after the CIC ruling,
and though it is not defined as such at the battalion or brigade level, the
lines between ‘welfare’ activities and AWWA activities are blurred.

The ambiguity is
explained by the conduct of the Brigade Commander in Faridkot and the
commanding officer of Ms Karajagi’s husband’s unit, who pulled her up for
refusing to join what he described as an “AWWA activity.” According to Ms
Karajagi’s complaint, the Brigade Commander said: “I will make sure it is
understood well. Got the issue? Both of you.” He went on to say, “You must understand
what your commander is thinking. That’s it.” And the final warning: “If the
boundary’s four lines are crossed, I will not accept it…Fine, Mrs. Anappa. I
had to speak today because if I don’t nip it in the bud, this malaise will
continue.”

Ms Karajagi’s
complaint raised three questions. In what capacity did the Brigadier call her
for an interaction on an AWWA issue? How is he related to AWWA activities and
why is he protecting an institution which is an NGO and not related to the
Army? The Army has since deputed a Brigadier to inquire into the matter and
submit a report.

A 2011 letter from
the Army’s Adjutant General Branch clearly states that “welfare meets” at the
battalion level are forums to address the welfare-oriented problems of
families. The meets are to be conducted with dignity and without any frills,
which by no stretch of imagination can include a fashion show.

System of kinship

But the Army has
an age-old system of kinship which includes the women and families of those
serving in it. It is perhaps one of the few organisations where families are
made to feel a part of it and bonds extend across ranks and even after
retirement. No social function is complete without the participation of women.
If an officer’s wife has not turned up for a formal event, her husband is
pulled up for it. What many women do not appreciate is the benign institutional
assistance for many of their domestic and personal problems. In no other
organisation is it incumbent on a senior officer’s wife to attend to complaints
of domestic abuse by any woman in her husband’s formation.

As the same letter
points out, “welfare” is the responsibility of the commanding officer and it
involves “not only those personnel under the command but also their families,
whether residing in station or away at home/forward area family quarters.” In
addition, formation commanders are instructed to look into family welfare
activities during inspection of the units under them and “get feedback on
genuine welfare.” In its truest sense “family welfare” is serious business
because with the menfolk away on long and stressful duties, the families,
particularly of persons below officer rank (PBOR), need a caring and responsive
mechanism for their problems. It hardly needs to be reiterated that the assurance
that their families are well looked after in their absence makes for a
healthier, motivated workforce.

That said, AWWA
has in recent years become the biggest bugbear, not only for the wives but for
officers too, when the so-called welfare activities are stretched to include
fashion shows, tombolas and coffee mornings for wives of visiting senior
officers for which the Army unit’s resources are freely used. Ms. Karajagi’s
outburst is illustrative of just how easily such activities subsume the Army’s
prime professional duties and are seen as a vehicle for professional
advancement. Her husband had taken leave to study for the crucial staff college
course when the two were summoned by the Brigade Commander. With scarce
domestic help, it fell on Ms. Karajagi’s husband to look after their two small
children while she attended the rehearsals. She did it for about a week and
eventually threw up her hands. The duo’s anger at being threatened is shared by
many other silent sufferers. The “malaise” as the Brigadier in Faridkot
described, is perhaps of another kind.

This is the first
of three destroyers which have been designed by the Naval Design Bureau and
built at Mazgaon Docks Ltd, Mumbai. The Kolkata Class Destroyers, as they will
be known, will weigh 6,000 tonnes and have an operating range of 15,000 km. The
other ships in the series will be called INS Kochi and INS Chennai.

However, INS
Kolkata lacks a potent long-range missile – a primary weapon for such class of
warships — that will strike down incoming airborne targets. Chinese Navy’s
equivalent warships– Type 52D class destroyers, of which the first one,
Kunming, commissioned this year — have the capacity to carry 64 long-range
surface-to-air-missiles (LR-SAMs). Indian Navy’s LR-SAM, jointly built by India
and Israel, is slated for a ‘hot test’ in September.

This missile will
be installed on board several Indian naval warships, including the newly
acquired seaborne aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya and the Kolkata class of
warships.

“INS Kolkata, entirely built
in India, is a symbol of our self-reliance in the field of defence. It is a
worthy example of the country’s technical abilities and will send a strong
message around the world,” Modi said at the event where the ship was commissioned.
The Prime Minister hoped that the construction of INS Kolkata would be the
first step towards indigenous defence building. “We have a vision to make India
self-reliant so that we import now, but will be able to export in future,” Modi
said.

Sounding conciliatory towards
India’s neighbours, Modi said India was not looking for war with anyone. “But
we have to be alert and prepared — INS Kolkata will ensure safety of the people
of this country,” Modi said.

The Navy has fitted INS
Kolkatta with Israel-made MF STAR, an advanced active array radar that can
track incoming missiles and aircraft as far as 250 km away. The radar will
guide the LR-SAM missiles when they are fitted.

The delay in LR-SAM is due to
upward revision of performance requirements mid-way during the development of
the missile that included new technologies. However, the Kolkata class will
carry 16 long-range BrahMos anti-ship missiles capable of striking targets 300
km away. However, it will be some time before the main air defense weapon of
INS Kolkata becomes available for deployment.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140817/edit.htm#1

Internal
dissonance in Pak meets external effects

There are signals
from Pakistan that are a mixture of opposites difficult to understand. However,
a single strand runs through all of them — the rising strength of what is
termed the ‘Deep State’ in all aspects of governance of Pakistan.

Lt Gen Syed Ata
Hasnain (retd)

Last week was
definitely a ‘Pakistan week’ in New Delhi with a series of discussions in
various forums. The theme was the complexity of Pakistan’s internal dynamics
marked by dissonance. The conclusion largely was that this dissonance was
sending confusing signals on who exactly was in charge in Islamabad and its
approach towards India.

These signals are
a mixture of opposites difficult to understand. However, a single strand runs
through all of them — the rising strength of what is termed the ‘Deep State’ in
all aspects of governance of Pakistan. The Deep State is as yet struggling to
respond adequately to Prime Minister Modi’s surprise gesture of inviting all
SAARC leaders, including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, to the inauguration of
India’s new government.

The opposing
trends that make the situation difficult to assess are worth recounting.
Heading the list is the seemingly stable, democratically elected government
with a two-thirds majority, mostly won from the Punjabi heartland to which the
majority of the Deep State belongs. The two are at odds on a very basic
perception — how to deal with the radicalised thugs of the Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP), or simply the Pakistan Taliban, who threaten Pakistan’s
existence as a state. While Sharif favours negotiations, the Deep State wishes
to militarily subjugate them.

Then there is
Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) with a majority only in the
Frontier province, which contests Sharif’s legitimacy to rule and has a soft
attitude towards the TTP. It conducts street protests and accuses Sharif of
having rigged the polls.

A maverick
west-based cleric whose political mooring in Pakistan is deeply suspect also
adds to the road show. Tahirul Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tehreek hardly enjoys
political legitimacy but the cleric returns ever so often as the supposed
messiah of the moderate Muslim strain, the Barelvis, and to lend credence to
some kind of a counter-movement against radicalism while expounding beliefs
which the Barelvis themselves are at odds to understand. He is the favourite of
the Deep State, which backs him while curbing Imran Khan because of his soft
approach to the radicals. Qadri and Imran Khan’s movements may appear
coordinated but actually aren’t, although their common objective is to weaken
Sharif’s hold.

The Army is peeved
at Sharif’s reluctance to retract the charges of treason against former
President General Parvez Musharraf. Some months ago when General Raheel Sharif
was appointed the Army Chief over the heads of two seniors it seemed that the
‘Sharif linkage’ had worked as much as the relationship built by Punjab Chief
Minister Shahbaz Sharif during General Raheel’s tenure as GOC, 4 Corps, at
Lahore. However, nothing seems to have worked and the case against General
Musharraf continues while General Raheel Sharif has ensconced himself in the
culture of the Deep State.

Behind much of
Nawaz Sharif’s discomfiture with the various stakeholders of the confused
polity is his avowed intent to improve relations with India. He is often
accused of following a personal agenda which involves the Sharif business
empire. Yet, he is the legitimately elected head of government. But neither
does Imran Khan think that nor does the Deep State want him to follow his
agenda. So, where does that leave the political authority? Quite obviously, in
the hands of the Deep State led by the army whose interest lies in perpetuating
the standoff with India, militarily defeating the TTP and retaining political
power from behind. That means the perpetuation of the Sharif government but in
a weakened state.

The picture gets
even murkier because the TTP, a surrogate of the Afghan Taliban, should be a
natural link towards establishing Pakistan’s hold over Afghanistan once the
International Security Assistance Force pulls out. But it is battling the
Pakistan Army internally to establish a radical state in Pakistan. The only
organisations with which the army has a relationship based on a common agenda
are the India-focused Jihadi groups, the Lashkar-e-Toiba and the
Jaish-e-Mohammad; that is the only clear signal.

The Pakistan Army
continues to receive support from the public and grudgingly from the US. The
army has its Inter-Service Public Relations to oversee the perception
management of the Deep State. The image transmitted to the world is that the
Pakistan security establishment is under pressure of the Jihadis and the
softness of Nawaz Sharif is preventing their annihilation. While a major part
of the army is itself radicalised, the battle against the TTP is helping to
prove that the Army is non-radical.

Where does that
leave India in its relations with Pakistan? There can be nothing definitive.
Any progress on peace with the elected Pakistan Government may well be diluted
by the actions of the Deep State, within a few weeks. Everyone in India
realises that the real challenge for the new government will come when the Deep
State tests its will with a high-profile violent incident. The only way forward
appears to be the way things are being currently handled: maintain a positive
stance towards the peace process to strengthen democratic forces in Pakistan
while continuing to give strong messages to the Deep State, just the way the
Indian Prime Minister did at Kargil a few days ago. The balance must be tilted
towards the peace process, which is recommencing with the Foreign Secretary
level talks on August 25. At the same time, the Indian security establishment
must ensure that our security remains foolproof, both at the LoC and in the
hinterland.

A meltdown in
Pakistan is not in India’s interest and the protagonists of the ‘stable
Pakistan theory’ must work overtime to convince their detractors.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140817/main5.htm

3 Indians abducted
by Taliban rescued

Kabul, August 16

Three Indian
engineers, abducted by the Taliban, have been rescued in a special military
operation in eastern Logar province while they were being taken to Pakistan,
Afghanistan’s intelligence agency announced today.

The Indian
nationals, working for OASIS company, were abducted by Taliban while they were
on their way from Logar to Kabul, National Directorate of Security (NDS) said
in a statement.

The Taliban
militants were planning to take the three Indians to Quetta in Pakistan, before
they were freed by intelligence operatives, Afghan news agency Khaama Press
quoted the domestic intelligence agency as saying.

The NDS said the
hostages were freed during a military operation yesterday from Babos area of
Logar province.

The statement also
added that the three abducted Indians were engineers and the Taliban militants
were planning to take them to Quetta via Maidan Wardak province.

A suspect was also
arrested in connection with the abduction, the NDS said, adding that the
operation was launched after gathering enough intelligence information
regarding the incident.

NEW DELHI —
Although no defense projects were established during US Defense Secretary Chuck
Hagel’s recent visit to India, US-Indo defense ties are developing and
announcements on new initiatives are antici­pated next month, Ministry of
Defence officials and defense analysts said.

India and the US
have been negotiating for a year about co-production of the Javelin anti-tank
guided missile (ATGM). This would be the first joint US-India defense
production at Indian facilities, and announcement of an agreement was expected
during Hagel’s Aug. 7-9 visit, said defense analyst Mahindra Singh, retired
Indian Army major general said.

An MoD official
said the Javelin project remains under negotiation but the US has offered to
transfer technology for the fourth generation of the Javelin ATGM, an upgrade
from third-generation technology offered last year.

A diplomat at the
US Embassy here confirmed that Washington offered to transfer fourth-generation
technology for the co-production project.

Major
announcements on defense projects, including co-production, are expected during
the September visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US, said defense
analyst Venkataraman Mahalingam, retired Indian Army brigadier general.

“The US defense secretary’s
visit was not intended to sign any agreement,” Mahalingam said. “The US has
offered to co-produce and co-develop a number of military hardware systems,
including Javelin anti-tank guided missiles, MH-60 Romeo multirole helicopters,
unmanned aerial vehicles, mine-scattering systems, etc., under the Defense
Trade and Technology Initiative [DTTI]. These proposals will need time to be
evaluated. Agreements, if any, would be signed during Modi’s visit.”

Since a new government took
charge in late May, there will be delays on reaching agreements on weapon buys
or co-production, the MoD official said, but gave no details of projects being
discussed.

India is not in a hurry to
finalize the Javelin ATGM co-production and is insisting on technology transfer
for all variants of the weapon, an Indian Army official said. India should seek
co-production of the Javelin that has a range of up to 4.5 kilometers and not
restrict itself to the 2.5-kilometer-range variant, he said — and adopt the
latest improvements.

Talks between Hagel and
Defence Minister Arun Jaitley set the DTTI rolling with the announcement of the
Indian representative to the talks. The defense production secretary was named
to represent India on DTTI, replacing the national security adviser, who had
previously been the Indian representative.

The US has already named Frank
Kendall, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics,
as its DTTI representative.

“Actually, involvement of
Jaitley in DTTI is a pretty hefty statement of Modi government’s intent to
engage and consolidate relations at the highest levels,” said Bharat Karnad,
research professor in national security studies at the Centre for Policy
Research.

“The [national security
adviser] could not have been there for this one, on account of the rank issue,”
said Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, senior fellow in security studies, Observer
Research Foundation. “As I understand, it’s the defense secretary on the US
side and therefore India’s representation would [have to include] the defense
secretary as well.

“Second, India’s current
[national security adviser] is also more of an expert on internal security and
he could not have added much to the meeting in substance even if he were to
represent India there,” he said.

Indo-US defense cooperation
has been mainly based on purchase of weaponry but no co-production projects,
Singh said.

India has bought weaponry
worth more than $9 billion since US sanctions were lifted in 2001. In the last
five years, the bulk of the orders, totaling over $6 billion, were conducted
government to government.

India would prefer to develop
defense ties that included more technology transfer and not simply the purchase
of weapons, the MoD official said.

“India-US relations are in a
limbo because the foundation blocks for ramped-up relations are missing, Karnad
said. “Tech transfer is the big thing for New Delhi, for instance, but
Washington is more interested in selling stuff, like any other vendor state.”

Other analysts said more time
is needed for the new government to establish ties with Washington.

“At present, the main issue is
establishing relationships and rebuilding contacts with the Modi government in
New Delhi. The process has just begun and is likely to take some time before
trust and mutually agreed processes are in place,” said defense analyst Rahul
Bhonsle, a retired Indian Army brigadier general.

“There are also fundamental
challenges in Indo-US defense ties given the gaps in technology, regulations,
structure of defense industry, processes and so on, which I think not many on
both sides are even aware of. So every time it appears to be a new learning
experience,” he said.

Both countries agree there is
great scope for improving defense relations.

“The state of the defense ties
has reached nowhere close to its potential. The main stumbling blocks have so
far been that the previous United Progressive Alliance government has been very
uncertain about strategic ties with the US, especially its left-leaning Defence
Minister A.K. Antony,” Rajagopalan said. ■

India’s Defence
Sector includes the three Armed Forces (the Army, the Navy and the Air Force),
and other Departments, primarily Defence Research and Development Organization
(DRDO) and Defence Ordnance Factories. India has the third largest Army, the
fourth largest Air force and the seventh largest Navy in the world but half of
its defence equipment is considered to be largely obsolete. With Pakistan in
the west and China in the east — both of whom India has fought wars with —
India is banking on defence equipments that are more than 2 decades old and
That puts the country’s defence readiness at its lowest since the 1980s. For
instance, the Army’s light helicopters are more than 40 years old, it has not
bought new artillery guns since 1987, and it is also short of nearly 600,000
hand grenades. The Indian Navy too is short of conventional submarines and its
fleet of diesel-powered submarines is down to a single digit. Submarines in production
in Indian shipyards are at least four years behind schedule. The Indian Air
Force is down to 33 squadrons of fighter jets against the required strength of
39 squadrons and its eight-year-old plan to purchase 126 new combat jets is yet
to come to fruition. India relies on foreign players for 70% of its defense
needs and thus, there is an imperative requirement to upgrade the equipment
profile by incorporating state of the art equipment into the arsenal and slowly
phasing out the obsolete equipment.

The Indian Defence
sector is also affected by the periodically surfacing allegations of corruption
in weapons procurement. The main worry in Indian defence circles is that
contracts take years to be signed, and then sudden controversies crop up,
preventing deals from going through which leads to bottlenecks in weapons
procurement. To date, blacklisted companies include Rheinmetall Air Defence,
part of Germany’s Rheinmetall AG, Israel Military Industries and Singapore
Technologies Kinetics. The problem that has emerged is two-fold in nature:
namely, how to weed out the corruption before entering into a contract, and how
to speed up decision-making once such cases have been found.

The authorities in
the Indian Defence sector have taken cognizance of these issues and as such
have devised policy formulations for the reform of the Defence Sector. Creation
of Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) in 2002 to formalize the entire
procurement process was a landmark step towards streamlining the procurement
process. In 2008, a significant step was taken when the policy allowed
participation of the private sector for manufacturing of defence products with
the issue of an industrial license.

India’s recent
national defence priorities – as evidenced by interconnected efforts such as
the DPP, offsets, defence production policy (DPrP) and reforms in higher
defence organizations reflect the military establishment’s effort to
recalibrate India’s position in world affairs.

In this context,
Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP)-2013 must be seen as a significant step
towards the achievement of larger strategic aspirations. It is claimed that the
DPP-2013 goes beyond the earlier DPPs in so far as eliminating the behind the
scene “murky machinations” of brokers and middlemen. Perhaps the most
significant among the changes suggested in DPP-2013 by the Defence Acquisition
Council (DAC) pertains to providing the Indian defence industry the first right
of refusal to take up a defence project and as such, the DPP-2013 would make it
mandatory to explore indigenous options for military hardware and going in for
imports only if the domestic players throw their hands up on the timely
supplies of quality products. This, change, it is said, would help reduce
import by boosting the indigenous production of defence hardware.

One of the methods
of accruing benefits beyond price negotiations in any defence acquisition is
offset, which in simplest terms is a process whereby the supplier undertakes
programs to generate benefits for the economy of the buyer country. India too
has included offsets in its DPP in year 2006 and has since constantly
endeavored to evolve the policies governing discharge of offsets. The main
features of DPP 2013 are permitting transfer of technology (ToT) as offsets,
Allowing credit multipliers of up to 300 per cent for specified technologies
that vendors transfer to the DRDO, widening the product and services list
eligible for offsets, and incentivizing domestic private firms and Micro Small
and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in defence sector. This policy is gradually
bearing fruit to the advantage of indigenous defence industry and it is
recommended by defence analysts that India can draw immense benefits with a
well thought out and more importantly, an efficiently implemented offset
policy.

For India to
emerge as a major international power, or acquire a regional military edge, it
must reduce its dependence on imports as besides sophisticated systems, India
is today importing even basic defense items such as assault rifles and carbines.
Dependence on imports can be lessened if the thrust is on knowledge creation,
research, increase of FDI limit, tax incentives for indigenous production and
increased indigenous content in defence goods. Therefore, another major policy
restructuring is aimed at increasing the FDI limit in the defence sector.
Currently the FDI in defence is at a limit of 26% and that impedes the transfer
of technology through global Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM). India
needs higher FDI in its defence industry to boost its local technological base,
make the offset policy efficacious and derive economic benefits. In this
respect, it is also noteworthy to mention the Kelkar Committee recommendations.
In its 2005 report titled “Towards Strengthening Self Reliance in Defence
Preparedness”, the Kelkar committee identified the following effects of the
impact of an increased FDI in defence sector: Higher defence production will
accelerate the overall growth of the manufacturing sector by 8-14 per cent;
Increase of employment by 120,000-200,000 and savings of 30-50 per cent as
result of import substitution and cheaper cost on account of spares and
maintenance. In absolute terms, this translates into savings of more than Rs.
4,000 core per year. Thus, FDI has immense potential to raise technological
threshold and kick-start India’s quest for self reliance in defence production.

Building domestic
capability by connecting the private sector is an instant requirement. There is
also a prerequisite to revamp India’s Ordinance Factory Board and factories as
aspects of accountability and productivity require institutionalization in the
entire defence production establishment. Similarly, the DRDO requires a new
competitive dynamism when pitted against government-aided research and development
by the private sector. The long-term solution lies in enhancing domestic
capability.

The Defence sector
has pinned high hopes from the visit of US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel’ where
it is expected that Defence deals worth over Rs 20,000 crore, procuring 22
Apache attack helicopters, 15 Chinook heavy-lift choppers along with four P-8I
anti-submarine warfare aircraft, intelligence sharing on counter-terrorist
activities and steps to strengthen military ties would be discussed. Analysts
believe this deal can play a major part in strengthening India’s military
capabilities and eventually turn the world’s largest arms importer into a major
arms manufacturer.

Addressing naval
officers and sailors at the Naval Dockyard, Mumbai after commissioning the
ship, the Prime Minister described INS Kolkata as proof of India's "Buddhi
Bal" (intellectual capabilities). He said India's aim is to achieve such
prowess in its defence capabilities, that no one dares to cast an evil glance
at India.

Modi emphasized
that with changing times, the importance of prowess which came out of
"Buddhi Bal" (scientific and technical intelligence) is as important
for the armed forces as physical prowess (Baahu Bal).

The Prime Minister
also described INS Kolkata as the biggest indigenous defence production.
"As we dedicate this ship to the nation, we display to the world, our
buddhi bal and our manufacturing capabilities," the Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister
remarked that being in Maharashtra, and talking about the Navy, one could not
but remember Chhatrapati Shivaji, the great Maratha King, who conceived the
navy as a means for securing India's maritime trade interests.

The Prime Minister
said that today, maritime security was a vital aspect of global trade, and
India was playing its part in securing global trade. He added that INS Kolkata
is also a great communication platform, and will be useful in securing India's
trade interests at sea.

Modi mentioned the
provisions made in the recent budget for defence offsets, and said the world's
best arms and equipment manufacturers would be invited to set up manufacturing
facilities in India, and a day would come when India would be completely
self-reliant in defence production.

The Prime Minister
praised the valour of the Indian armed forces, and assured the jawans that the
whole nation stood by them and was convinced that they would leave no stone
unturned in defending the country.

Defence
MinisterArun Jaitley congratulated the
Navy on the commissioning of INS Kolkata.

The Governor of
MaharashtraK. Sankaranarayanan, the
Chief Minister of MaharashtraPrithviraj
Chavan, the Chief of Army Staff Admiral R.K. Dhowan, the National Security
AdvisorAjit Doval, the Defence
SecretaryR.K. Mathur, and senior
officers of the Army, Navy and Air Force were present on the occasion.

The Prime Minister
also visited various facilities onboard INS Kolkata and also wrote in the
Visitor's Book.